Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-07-15
REFORMED.


corner. as usual after our NIGHTS work
drinking. smoking and talking shop
The conversation had varied somewhat
from its customary vein that morning,
and after drifting about in a desultorv
way had finally settled upon the subject
of temperance. with one of olir Office
companions figuring as the "horrible eX-
ample While we We're discussing his
infrmities the object of our by no means
gentle criticisms came in. and a horrible
example he was. Looking neither to the
right nor to the left he walked with evil
dent signs of physical weakness to the
bar, drank a tumblcrful of liquor. and
Immediately retraced his steps to the
street.
Did You notice the size of the drink
asked the moderate drinker of our GUAR
tet; "he has been on this spree ten days,
and told me yesterday he couldn't Get
sober. Small wonder he can't get sober.
firing cartridges of that caliber into Inn
self. | advised him to stop
For a man in his condition to get
sober i,H' as easy as accomplishment as
you can think. said old Bill Robertson.
speaking for the first time in almost an
hour. I've been there myself and
know what I'm talking about. Advising
man to sober up is about the cheapest
form of doing good / know of. and in
most cases the least productive of favor
able results. Our friend will have to re-
sort to pretty harsh treatment to get
straight ned up. if something doesn't
supervene to brighten him into sobrietv,
as it did in my case.
T!Tnl1 1s tba etory- Di11 - U-o oh
"Well. it isn't much of story, but it
is a true one. and though it happened a
good many years ago. I'm not likely to
forget it. so let's have a fresh cigar and
I'll tell YOU how | became SO etfectuallv
sobered up that haven't from that day
to this felt the slightest inclination to
take drink"
Lighting a cigar and taking a sip of
lemonade from a glass at his elbow the
old fellow 1--WE called him old. though he
wasn't above 4j) told a story that pointed
a moral such as few temperance orators
or writers have ever arrived at in depict
ing tie horrors of intemperance or the
blessings of sobriety.
Il hal been a pretty hard drinker for
several years before | found myself on a
spree that | couldn't recover from in
twenty-four hours at the furthest. but as
time went on l found that my sprees
were becoming more protracted and re-
Coverv from them more difficult That
condition of things | tried to account for
by assuming that the average quality of
the whisky had deteriorated, and proba-
bly, was right, but nevertheless | kept
going from bad to worse.
In the fall of 1863 | left the military
service in Virginia and. after settling my
accounts at the war department and re-
ceiving several months back salary,
came to New York But before leaving
Washington laid the foundation of the
most persistent long drawn out, riveted,
and clinched drunk that ever took hold
of a fellow and wouldn't let go.
Arriving in New York, hunted up
my old friends. l had no difficulty il
finding them in the condition of my
finances, and before l was in the city q
week was hopelessly drunk and broke
/ say hopelesslv drunk because, though
the fact may not be generally apprc
cated, it is more difficult for a mar
who has been drunk week or two to ge
sober without money than it is for hin
to continue his spree indefinitely on thu
same unsound financial basis. Thu
many little things a man needs as substi
flutes for rum and to build him up can
not be obtained without money, Will
liquor can be as easily obtained by maj
of large acquaintance as sand on the sea
shore or poor accommodations at higl
priced summer boarding house.
well. as | have said, found mysel
drunk and broke, and l also found my
self DESTROYS of getting sober and goiD
to work. Most of you, presume, woul
say that l gratified my desire within tn
next twenty-four hours, but you woul
be wrong. l didn't, nor did / accom-
plish the desired result within the mex
two months.
whats that! Couldn't have trie
very hard? Why, man, l did nothin
but try. | couldn't sleep, couldn't eat
couldn't think. Often after lying awak
three or four hours l would lose myse
in sleep and awake thinking l had sleI
several hours only to find that ] hadn
been asleep two minutes. At other time
I'd awake with start, fancying l ha
heard a noise like thunderbolt or thu
somebody was pacing heavily up or dow
the room, merely to discover that thel
hadn't been noise louder than the trea
of fly on a pane of glass and that We
stark alone.
Finally got so that l was afraid
be left alone, and though might be ev,
80 much exhausted physically l wouldn
go to bed. The only moments of con
fort and security l experienced we
when l was under the influence of liquo
and the only meals l swallowed we
taken after / prepared my stomach Fl
their retention by filing it about half fl
Of whisky.
"One afternoon in the middle of N
vember l was walking aimlessly dow
Broadway when l CHANGED to meet {
old friend, railroad man, and to him
told the story of my condition, conclu
ing it with request for pass to CT
cinnati. Why ! wanted to go there
can't tell even now, but wanted to
somewhere-to run away from myself,
possible. The railroads weren't connet